One of the Home Depot's employees had told WSVN that Ripley was abducted after two unknown men rammed their vehicle into his mother’s car.

“The passenger of the vehicle exits the vehicle, approaches the mother, and demands drugs," Miami-Dade police detective Angel Rodriguez also told reporters. "The mother is insisting that she does not have any drugs. And so the passenger at that point reaches in, grabs her cell phone, steals her cell phone, and takes her child."

Officials described the suspects as two black males – one of which may have been wearing all black clothing and a black bandana over his face. They fled the scene in a light blue sedan.